


Midnight Train

by uxiumin



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Dancer!KimJongin, Fluff, M/M, Officeworker!OhSehun, Oneshot, Slice of Life, Strangers to crush, strangers on a train
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-22 23:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23002426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uxiumin/pseuds/uxiumin
Summary: Sehun hates the midnight train, but when he wakes up from a nap to find a cute guy drooling a little over his jacket he starts thinking that, maybe, the midnight train isn't that bad.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun
Comments: 28
Kudos: 89
Collections: PROJECT 94 Round 2





	Midnight Train

**Author's Note:**

> For prompt #R2064
> 
> Thanks to the mods for being so nice to me and to the prompter for such a fluffy prompt, I enjoyed writing this little thing <3

It has happened to him before.

The long train back to Seoul in the middle of the night. The muffled sound of people sleeping, the background music of whatever tacky movie the train was displaying on those little TV’s attached to the ceilings, or the reverberation of someone’s voice talking over the phone at the other side of the heavy glass door that divides each train car. 

Sehun is terribly tired. It had been a long week, meeting after meeting, agreement after agreement. And now he has to travel back to Seoul alone on the midnight train because his asshole of a boss forgot to reserve a seat for him on the 19.00 PM train. Again.  Having the window seat isn’t even a relief. It’s midnight. He only has amazing sights of a pitch-black void and the occasional light granted by a forgotten street lamp in the middle of nowhere, or an old station that modern trains don’t use anymore, too fast to care.

His suit is starting to feel like a prison made of fabric. Sehun untied his necktie as soon as he sat on the train, but he can’t do the same with his pants, unfortunately. He envies the man sitting in front of him, he has been sleeping the entire route between Daegu and Seoul wearing a pair of comfy tracksuit pants. Sehun looked at his watch with some hopes that time had magically vanished, that he had been asleep at least for three hours, but those hopes were cruelly crushed when he realized that he had another two hours to live inside that train. What a great experience ahead.

When he tried to shift his position on the rigid seat, he realized a wet stain on his jacket’s shoulder. He also realized an unknown guy sleeping too close to him, with some drool slipping from his open mouth, exactly like a kid would sleep. At first, he felt a little disgusted, mostly about the drool, but when he paid attention to the guy, Sehun chuckled internally at the image. It wasn’t weird, having someone to sleep on your shoulder while on the night train, but he found rather endearing how the stranger was hugging himself to sleep, as if his arms could work as a blanket, with his hair disheveled and agape mouth. 

Sehun’s chuckles probably had something to do with the fact that the guy in question was hella cute. Maybe he didn’t have any sights outside, but the inside sights turned out to be great. The more Sehun looked at the sleepy guy, the more lethargic he felt, he even forgot about the noises inside the car.

“Another short nap won’t hurt anyone.” - he whispered to himself, leaning his whole body again on the seat, but this time he made sure that his position was also comfortable for his cute seat neighbor.

  
  


A loud ring woke him up. A phone ring.

“Turn that thing off…” - Sehun murmured slightly annoyed before realizing that the phone ringing in question was no other than his own. He quickly silenced the call, it was just his boss, letting him know that he was safe and sound in his home in Gangnam after a few beers to celebrate the end of the week. Of course, without him. Sehun was starting to believe that the asshole was making all those things in purpose.

With a loud sigh, Sehun reclined himself on the seat again. Another hour has passed, the nap beside the drooling cute guy felt like heaven. But when Sehun looked at the seat next to him, he wasn’t there. He looked over the heads of other passengers from his seat, wondering if the other man changed his seat because of Sehun’s snores or his habit to move around while sleeping. But he wasn’t even in the car.

“Oh, good morning” - a deep voice startled Sehun. The drooling guy was there, standing right next to their seats with two juice bottles on his hands. “Or should I say goodnight? I thought you might want something to drink.” - he said with a soft smile.

Sehun nodded, grabbing one of the bottles handed to him. “Thank you, you didn’t need to…”

“I know!” - he happily answered, with a warm smile spreading on his pouty lips. “It’s my way to say sorry for drooling on your jacket.”

Sehun looked at his shoulder. The drooling stain was now even bigger. “Don’t worry” - he tried to ease the guy. “It happens to us all.”

“To me, it happens all the time. My mum says it’s because I’m still a baby.” - he joked. 

“Sorry I slept on you.” - Sehun apologized. “My name is Oh Sehun.”

“Kim Jongin” - the other said. “Don’t be sorry, I was the first to fall asleep! You looked really tired so I didn’t want to wake you up.” 

“Thank you. I really needed a nap” - Sehun said. “It’s been one hell of a week.”

“Work?” 

Sehun nodded. “I’m from Seoul, but I’ve been coming back and forth to Daegu all week for my boss.” - he explained rolling his eyes dramatically.

Jongin huffed with comprehension. “He sounds like a jerk.” 

“Oh, he is.” - Sehun said sipping a little of the juice Jongin bought him. “He also forgot to reserve me a ticket for the 19.00 PM train.” - he explained emphasizing the word ‘forgot’.

Jongin didn’t want to laugh at Sehun, but his seatmate was a funny talker. And the way he furrowed his defined eyebrows while angrily talking about his boss was rather endearing. “That’s nasty.”

“That’s only the tip of the iceberg.” - Sehun said while shifting his body so he and Jongin would face each other. He didn’t realize at first but Sehun has been lacking someone in his life that would just listen to him venting about his job or his annoying boss that treats him like a coffee boy instead of a graduate. Probably because most of his friends work in the same place as he does, and his boss treats them way better than he treats Sehun. Baekhyun, one of his friends, once said that it is because their boss is jealous of Sehun’s good looks. Sehun only laughed that day, but now he wonders if Baekhyun was right.

Jongin smiles and adds a comment or a funny remark every time Sehun needs it, absorbing his words like they were two old friends catching up. “Sorry” - Sehun said after a while. “I’ve been talking a lot…”

“Don’t worry!” - Jongin quickly answered. “You are really funny, I mean, I’m not laughing at you or anything.” - he said with a nervous chuckle.

“Don’t worry” - Sehun calmed him. Jongin not only looked sweet he was sweet, Sehun quickly concluded. His demeanor, the way he talks, the juice he bought...everything around Jongin screamed softness. “So, you have an annoying boss too?”

“Nope” - Jongin denied with his head too. “Not yet, at least. I’m finishing my major in Hanyang this year.”

“A major in what?” 

“Dance” - Jongin looked at him expecting a certain reaction. There are two types of reactions when he talks about his major, the first one incredulity, ‘how dancing is a major at a university?’. The second one is even worse, a mixture of fake concern and vanity.

“That sounds really cool”

Jongin looked at Sehun surprised. He had almost never received that answer from anyone older than his nephews. Most adults, his age or older, think that dancing is great as a hobby but that it has nothing to with a proper future or financial stability. A beautiful dream, and nothing else. “Really?” - Jongin asked with a slight blush. “You know, usually people tell me that I’m naive, that I’m chasing a dream as If I was a kid.”

“But I’m sure that the day you succeed they’ll all celebrate you as a national treasure.” - Sehun said. “Who I am, a total stranger to tell you how to live your life, or that your dream is useless?” - he shrugged.

Jongin looked at him in awe, was this guy for real?. Something inside Jongin wished to have met someone like Sehun some time ago when doubts and malicious comments tried to kill his dreams, to diminish his self-esteem or skills. “Thank you” - he said, his voice almost a thread. “I don’t get that kind of words a lot, actually.”

“What can I say?” - Sehun shrugged again. “Look at me, I studied what my parents wanted me to study instead of following my heart as you did. I admire people with that kind of determination.”

“Are you unhappy?” 

“About my boss? Yes, a lot. About my work or my career? No, it’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just… It doesn’t fulfill me as I thought It should.” - Sehun said, giving a long look to Jongin’s understanding eyes. “Sorry, I’m rambling again.”

“It’s okay.” - Jongin maintained the long gaze between them. He felt like a wave hitting him, like somehow in such a short time they have connected, that he has a deeper link with Sehun, that was just a stranger a few hours ago than to some of his classmates. 

Sehun felt like hiding under the train seat and don’t come out until the car was empty and in Seoul. Why was he talking so much? Why was he saying all those things to Jongin, a guy he had just met? Maybe it had something to do with his honest brown eyes, with the intimacy that the rest of asleep passengers granted them, or the fact that they had been getting closer and closer while they spoke. Jongin made Sehun forget about time, about the two hours of traveling ahead or his tiredness, and he wasn’t going to ask anything else of him. Yet, even without asking, Jongin gifted him a nice chat and even better, sheer understanding. Two lost souls that found each other in a crowded midnight train.

Maybe, looking at it with some perspective, it wasn’t that bad that his boss had forgotten about him.

“Are you hungry?” - Sehun asked out of nowhere. “We still have some time inside and I could eat something.”

Jongin nodded with a wide grin spreading all over his face. “I’m always hungry.”

They both walked to the restaurant car, trying not to wake any other passenger while exiting their car, and asked for a few snacks and drinks to share. Jongin wanted to pay his part but Sehun insisted.

“You already paid for the juice” - Sehun reminded him.

“You can’t compare, you are trying to pay dinner.” - Jongin pouted.

Using every bit of strength inside of him to not dwell on that dangerously attractive pout, Sehun kept insisting. “A few sandwiches and snacks barely make a proper dinner.”

“Whatever” - Jongin sighed giving up. “You are lucky I’m hungry and not in the mood to argue.”

“Didn’t you say that you are always hungry?” - Sehun cocked an eyebrow while asking.

Jongin laughed. He had one of those loud and contagious laughs, it resonated across the empty restaurant car turning the dull aura of the room with joy. “You know my deepest secret now.”

The hour they had left to chat and eat passed way too fast for Sehun’s liking. And if someone asked Jongin he would agree. 

Between shared snacks and confidences they fell in each other’s comfortable company, in the easiness of being heard without being judged, drowning slowly in the pleasurable feeling of being seen through a pair of kind eyes. Drinking from Jongin’s words was easy, so much that Sehun was sitting at the border of his seat all the time, wanting to know the next story about his nephews or the next anecdote about his dancing classes. From the other side of the grey table that separated them, Jongin was thriving to hear more from Sehun, not only about his work or his boss, but also the nice parts, about the funny little things that made the tall guy happy. A sudden urge to hold Jongin’s resting hand popped up on Sehun’s mind, he didn’t know why but everything inside his body wanted to touch the tanned dancer even a bit, to put some kind of order in his messy chocolate hair while he kept talking. 

Neither of them realized the subtle change on the railroads, or that the outside lighting changed while they shared longing looks and soft chuckles. They were arriving at Seoul, the last station for both of them.

“Can I tell you something a little...weird?” - Jongin asked suddenly.

“Tell me” 

“You won’t judge me?”

“Have I ever judged you?”

“You just met me today!” - Jongin complained.

“Well, but you told me about you going to sleep without showering after practice a while ago and I didn’t judge you!” - Sehun laughed.

“You are doing it now!” - Jongin pouted again, looking at the two crescents moons that were Sehun’s eyes while he laughed. The way the tall man always hides his mouth or how his eyes crinkle on the corners...Jongin’s heart skipped a beat.

“I’m not! Come on, tell me already.”

Jongin sighed. “Maybe it’s only me, but I feel like, during this short time together I made a really deep connection with you. Almost like I’ve met you before”

Sehun looked at Jongin for a minute noticing the subtle blush spreading on his face and ears and how the dancer averted his eyes from him. After a huff, Sehun answered; “I was thinking the same. Honestly, I’m even a little grateful that my boss forgot about me today. It wasn’t that bad in the end.”

“It wasn’t that bad?” - Jongin asked cocking an eyebrow.

Sehun laughed. “Okay, okay. It was good. I’m glad that I’ve met you.”

“Me too” - Jongin answered instantly.

“Even if you drooled on my jacket.”

“Asshole” - Jongin whined with a loud sigh that made Sehun laugh again.

At that moment the speakers announced the train’s arrival to Yongsan’s station. For a second it didn’t felt real, the voice speaking, the melody announcing the end of the statement, how the train was slowly decreasing its speed. Or at least, both of them wished that it wasn’t real. For a long minute, neither of them moved, only looking at each other as if as soon as they stood up from the benches they were sitting in the magic they shared would vanish. As if their link was only valid inside that train. But soon after they realized that they’ll have to move, to grab their things from their seats and get out to the train, to come back to their lives. 

Silently, they returned to their car, sitting in a weird silence among the rest of the passengers now completely awaken, grabbing suitcases and jackets from the upper shelves. When the train stopped fully, Sehun looked at Jongin but neither of them said anything else until they were out, until a cool night breeze hit both of them as a welcome outside the train. Sehun noticed that he had started fidgeting with his fingers, a habit he had developed at a young age whenever he wanted to say something else, whenever he wanted something and he wasn’t unsure about obtaining it. Sehun knew exactly what he wanted to ask, but the idea of obtaining a “no” for an answer was making the words heavier inside his throat. When he turned to look at Jongin, his little smile gave Sehun the last piece of courage he needed.

“Jongin” - Sehun said finally, conquering the knot forming inside his throat and the trembling inside his stomach. “Would you like to meet again?”

Jongin looked at Sehun dazed out, the question caught him completely off guard. Of course, he wanted, he wasn’t sure of how to ask exactly that, but Sehun kept rambling in front of him with nervous fingers and uneasy expression.

“If you don’t want I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything… I just wanted…”

“You just wanted what?” - Jongin asked with a light laugh. “You are not letting me answer!”

“Sorry, I tend to ramble…”

Jongin smiled again. “Give me your phone.” - he answered offering his hand, he quickly tapped the screen and returned it to Sehun. “Call me whenever you want, okay?”

“That’s a yes?” - Sehun asked anyway, looking at his new contact ‘Jongin’ followed by a train emoji.

“Of course it is!” 

Jongin waved at him happily while leaving the station and Sehun behind. Sehun doesn’t know when is he supposed to call, if that same night or tomorrow morning would be way too soon, or if the weekend is way too far, but Sehun is sure that he will call him. That he will call that number a lot, indeed. He is sure that he wants to hear that voice again, that he wants to share a little more than just some anecdotes and snacks with the sweet-eyed dancer. Sehun is sure that a piece of him is leaving the station on that waving hand and sunshine smile.

Maybe, looking at it with some perspective, it was a good thing that his boss had forgotten about him.

**Author's Note:**

> Last but not least, thank you for reading, leave a kudo or/and a comment if you enjoyed it :)


End file.
